


Something Similar

by Onceyourempire



Series: Star Wars AU ficlets [1]
Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-08
Updated: 2018-02-08
Packaged: 2019-03-15 09:42:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13610700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onceyourempire/pseuds/Onceyourempire
Summary: Bodhi can’t fly an X-wing. Cassian can’t fly an X-wing. K2 can’t even fit in one, let alone get it in the air.Wedge is running out of options.





	Something Similar

**Author's Note:**

> This was an AU my constant star wars companion and I cobbled together forever ago while just. Pretending everyone lived. I don’t think the movie would have been as good if they all had but thats what fics for yall. We also found the comparisons between cassian and wedge to be compelling as fuck and now theyre like. A tiny ship seed in my heart.
> 
> This was originally going to be a series but lets be honest — probably not. But maybe! Lets be optimistic.

“You ever thought about being an X-Wing pilot?”

Bodhi laughs from inside the guts of his Y-Wing. “No thank you. I’ve never flown anything that small before.”

“It would be easier, right? Less clunky?” Wedge squats and peers up at Bodhi. “I’m just saying, Bodhi. You’d be great.”

“I’d overcorrect and crash right into you.” Bodhi smiles down at him and wipes his hands off a rag. “Besides I -- uh.” He stops, abruptly, and his face pinches up. “Some of my friends were TIE fighter pilots. They didn’t -- the Empire isn’t great to small ship fliers.”

Wedge has heard the stories from other defectors. The Empire sees their combat craft fliers as disposable. They pump their bodies full of stims and chems of all kinds so they can barely sit still, then fling them into space. They said it was so they’d be hyper-alert, ready to fly at any time. It’s a shitty excuse, no matter which way you slice it.

“We don’t do that. You know we don’t.” Wedge says gently. 

“I know. That’s why you’re the good guys.” Bodhi’s smile is smaller. “Anyway, I’m happy where I am. You that desperate for fliers? Luke not good enough for you?”

Wedge flinches. Bodhi doesn’t seem to notice. 

“Luke’s been busy with other missions.” Wedge sits on the floor of the hanger and rubs his face with his hands. The truth is that Luke’s vanished into the thin air, gone after the raid on Hoth. Leia, Han, and Chewie too. Three of their best pilots and a commanding officer all missing, and Wedge is left struggling to fill the hole. “There’s not many other pilots good enough to help me until he gets back.”

“Cassian?”

“I don’t know, maybe. He seems hard to approach.”

Behind him, Wedge hears a laugh. Bodhi, above him, joins in. Wedge leans back and looks up into the smirking face of Cassian.

“Oh.” Wedge says, simply.

“I think Bodhi was asking for my opinion, Captain.” Cassian says, stuffing his hands into his pants pockets. “I can’t fly an X-Wing, if you were wondering. I’m not used to flying something that small.”

The most famous team in the entire Rebellion, and not a one of them can even fly for the squadron named after them. Wedge sucks his teeth.

“What about K2?” Bodhi asks, dropping out of his Y-Wing.

“He’s too big.” Cassian says. There’s a buzz from his pocket, and he pulls out a communicator. He wiggles an ear piece in and speaks into the mic. “Andor here.” 

“Can we try?” Wedge asks, half out of desperation and half out of a desire to see K2 fold up into the small cockpit of a X-Wing. 

“No.” Cassian replies, but Wedge can’t tell if he’s talking to Wedge or whoever’s on the line.

“Have you asked Jyn?” Bodhi sits on the floor across from Wedge and pulls a datapad into his lap.

“Can Jyn fly?”

“Jyn can do a lot of things.” Bodhi says, peeking up at him with a smile. It’s said casually, which is both intriguing and horrifying. 

“Okay.” Wedge relents, getting to his feet. His knees creak and crackle as he does so. He’s not old but all these years of running around and cramming himself into cockpits sure make him feel ancient. “You know where she is?”

“Probably in the rec room.” Bodhi taps away at his datapad. “Give me a sec and I’ll come with you.”

Wedge tries not to look too relieved. He likes Jyn and respects her immensely, but she also gets this squinty look when Wedge talks to her and it’s kind of scary.

Cassian waves them off as they offer to wait for him and continues arguing with his comm. Wedge tries not to look over his shoulder for one last look. No matter how good the view is, he can’t let himself get tempted by pipe dreams of romance. It would just go badly. It always does with Wedge.

+++

Jyn is in the rec room, surrounded by a handful of rebels.

“Does anyone know a 5 letter word for the feeling you get when everything is taking a tragic turn and you know it’ll only get worse?” She asks the crowd.

“Yikes.” Bodhi helpfully supplies.

“No, it’s in Ubese.” Jyn chews her pen.

“Why are you doing crosswords in Ubese?” Wedge asks. “Do you even know Ubese?”

Jyn gives him that squinty look. Wedge shuts his mouth. She looks back down, thinks, then quickly scribbles characters into the spaces. Wedge leans over her shoulder. He hadn’t even known what written Ubenese looked like until now. 

“Okay, two letters -- wait, nevermind.” She scribbles more. “It was a kind of fruit.”

“Jyn.” Bodhi interrupts, hovering a hand near her shoulder. “Can we talk to you for a minute? Won’t take long.”

She smiles up at him and sets her pen down. Wedge takes that as a positive sign.

She can fly, she admits after they’re all settled in at a corner table. Apparently, she’s even flown an X-Wing before. 

“For the Rebellion?” Wedge asks.

“No, this was after.” She’s picking at the cuff of her jacket. “I learned to fly with Saw, but I didn’t do missions.”

“How -- okay.” Wedge puts his hands on the table. “Will you do a test flight for me? I need help for my squadron.”

Jyn doesn’t squint at him for once. Her mouth twitches in a smile. “Yeah. I’d like that.”

+++

She’s good. She’s great. She can fly, best of all, and Wedge feels a weight lift from his shoulders.

“You’re amazing.” Wedge tells her when she hauls herself out of the cockpit. “I could marry you right now. Wedge Erso. Just say the word.”

She smiles, warm and fond. She must love flying, as much as Luke does, as much as Wedge used to. “I’ll take a spot in your squad, thanks. The wedding can wait. You’ll have to talk to Cassian about my transfer.” She reminds him, taking off her helmet.

He’ll talk to Lord Vader himself if it means he doesn’t have to spend every waking moment sick to his stomach, worrying about having enough fliers. Jyn’s no Luke, but Luke’s also a cheater with the Force at his back. Jyn’s also a survivor, just like Wedge, and he needs those more than anything. It’s perfect.

He looks up at her. They have a lot in common, he realizes. A spark of something similar. Maybe this will be even better than he thought.

“Come with me?” He asks, and she drops from the cockpit.

“Sure. Make it easier, right?” They begin to walk, and Wedge tries to form a good opening sentence for the ‘I’m taking your best friend from your team, thanks, bye’ conversation. Jyn bumps his arm. “So I heard you met Fulcrum once.”

“One of them, yeah. They recruited me.”

She smiles, all teeth. “I pretended to be Fulcrum once. For three months.”

Wedge swallows a bark of laughter. “The original one? The Fulcrum?”

Jyn smiles wider.

“Does Cassian know? Isn’t he one of them?”

“Do you want to hear about it?” She dodges the question, which means that no, Cassian does not know about it.

“Of course I do. Tell me everything.”

+++


End file.
